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Christina D. Romer

News about Christina D. Romer, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times. More

Updated: Aug. 12, 2010

Cristina Romer served as President Obama's chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the first part of his administration.

Ms. Romer came to the job as a well-regarded economist who was a supporter of Mr. Obama's presidential candidacy and an expert on recessions, and in particular, the Great Depression.

She announced in August 2010 that she would be returning to her tenured position as an economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, in time for her son to begin high school in California in September.

The only woman in the inner circle of Mr. Obama's economic advisers, Ms. Romer early on had tense relations with Lawrence H. Summers, who, as director of his National Economic Council, coordinates the advice that goes to the president.

Ms. Romer had a bigger role than many predecessors in her job but was said to express frustration that she did not have more direct access to the president, or more influence.

At some cost to her credibility, Ms. Romer was perhaps best known publicly for her early projection that unemployment would not top 8 percent if Mr. Obama's $787 billion stimulus package became law; the spending was approved a month after his inauguration, but by year's end the jobless rate hit 10 percent. She later said she and others in the administration had underestimated the severity of the economic damage caused by the financial crisis of late 2008.

Mrs. Romer has been a prolific author of economics papers, especially on tax policies, many written with her husband, economist David Romer. Earlier in 2010 she was expected to move to Harvard University but Harvard's president rescinded the offer, igniting a small furor among Mrs. Romer's supporters in academia's economics community nationwide. There was never any public explanation for Harvard's decision.